A gas turbine engine generally includes a fan and a core arranged in flow communication with one another. Additionally, the core of the gas turbine engine general includes, in serial flow order, a compressor section, a combustion section, a turbine section, and an exhaust section. In operation, air is provided from the fan to an inlet of the compressor section where one or more axial compressors progressively compress the air until it reaches the combustion section. Fuel is mixed with the compressed air and burned within the combustion section to provide combustion gases. The combustion gases are routed from the combustion section to the turbine section. The flow of combustion gasses through the turbine section drives the turbine section and is then routed through the exhaust section, e.g., to atmosphere.
More commonly, non-traditional high temperature materials, such as ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, are being used as structural components within gas turbine engines. For example, typical combustion sections include an inner liner, an outer liner, and a dome. More commonly, the inner and outer liners are being formed of CMC materials, while the dome is formed of a metal material. The metal dome has conventionally been required to attach certain fuel-air injection assemblies.
However, certain gas turbine engines have had problems accommodating certain mechanical properties of the CMC materials incorporated therein. For example, CMC materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion than the traditional metal materials. Accordingly, certain combustor assemblies include attachment assemblies that may disrupt a flow of combustion gasses through the combustion chamber. Additionally, it can be difficult to mount certain components to CMC materials without requiring duplicative and complicating metal parts.
Accordingly, a combustor assembly capable of using CMC materials without requiring or including additional or duplicative metal components for attachment, and without creating aerodynamic hurdles for a flow of combustion gasses through the combustion chamber would be useful.